Train bridges unsafe for pedestrians, Potsdam man says

Friday, November 2, 2012 - 2:55 pm

To the Editor:

I knew this off the cuff already, but let’s do some rough math. The first whistle you get from a northbound train is 150m west of Lower Pine, which is only about 270m from the bridge, and the bridge is 100m long. So let’s say that someone walks at 5kph, that means that if you were in the middle, you would be able to get to the other end, worst case, in 1/50th of an hour, or 1.2 minutes. Let’s say that the train was going 50kph.

It would cover the distance from Lower Pine whistle point (500’ back from the intersection, or 500m) in 500m/50kph in one minute. One minute is less than 1.2 minutes. You can’t get off the bridge in time if you immediately start walking smartly eastward on the first whistle. Q.E.D.

You are taking your life in your hands, and Shanith took his in his hands, if you cross the Potsdam CSX railroad bridge. If you’re a rail fan like me, and think you know the schedule, you don’t.

CSX can run an extra any time they want to. Don’t walk across the bridge even if you don’t care about the trespassing issue and think there won’t be any trains or you can outrun it. You shouldn’t, you can’t, and you won’t.